All posts tagged "todd blanche"

Blanche stares 'down the barrel' as Epstein-case judge urged to 'start threatening jail'

Attorney General Todd Blanche is "circling the drains" as his Justice Department edges toward a contempt finding linked to Jeffrey Epstein-related records, according to a new legal analysis.

In a Saturday episode of the Legal AF podcast, Michael Popok argued that Blanche's Justice department is "staring down the barrel, the business end of a federal judge."

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan "wants to hold them in contempt of court for failing to produce documents he's ordered to be produced consistent with the Epstein Files Transparency Act," Popok said.

Blanche is the defendant in a lawsuit by lawyer and journalist Katie Phang, who is demanding the release of additional Epstein files or an explanation of why the DOJ won't release those files. She alleges that the DOJ improperly redacted the Epstein files based on the requirement set out in the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Sullivan has demanded Blanche turn over handwritten FBI notes tied to a woman who "claims she was victimized and sexually abused by Donald Trump when she was thirteen years old," Popok explained.

Sullivan also ordered Blanche to produce a redaction log and sworn declaration about a required Federal Register notice, Popok added.

DOJ lawyers answered Sullivan's records demand with "a ridiculous two-page filing," according to Popok, who trashed it as "a page and a half of gibberish unsupported by any affidavit or sworn statement."

Popok mocked the DOJ's account of its document review — which bemoaned attorneys working "days, nights, weekends, and holidays, including Christmas Day and New Year's Eve" — and described it as a "pity party."

Popok also seized on a claim from a DOJ attorney that the government had not previously produced handwritten interview notes in the matter. A member of Phang's legal team, whom Popok interviewed in a previous podcast, called that assertion "just straight up false," and pointed to "over a hundred examples of handwritten notes being reviewed, being produced" under the transparency act.

Popok predicted Sullivan is nearing a breaking point.

"I think Judge Sullivan's had it," Popok said. "Bring the contempt already. Bring the contempt. Order the production of the FBI notes by a date certain or people will be found in contempt of court. Start threatening jail. That's where we're at."

'Hidden costs' of Trump DOJ's corruption come home to roost as cases stall: expert

The Justice Department's "nakedly political" prosecutions have made it harder to convict criminals, which will hurt the public, a former prosecutor warned.

In a Tuesday Substack article, former U.S. attorney Harry Litman argued that the reprisal prosecutions dominating the headlines, including cases against figures like James Comey and Letitia James, are only one face of what he called "the other side of the DOJ's corruption." The more damaging fallout lands where few are looking, he warned.

Litman pointed to a run of losses in Washington's federal courthouse under D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office has "spent the presumption [of regularity] down to nothing." Jurors now take their seats "already jaundiced" toward a department they no longer trust, so even strong cases are buckling, he warned.

"The damage comes home to roost in other righteous cases that have always been the hallmark of the DOJ," Litman wrote. "We're seeing cases that likely would have and should have proceeded to conviction coming up short, with tangible costs borne by the public."

His prime example is accused MS-13 ringleader Moises Rivera-Luna, who is "no sandwich-thrower," as Litman put it. The government accused Rivera-Luna of ordering murders from a Salvadoran jail cell. Two D.C. juries deadlocked, and Pirro's office plans to try him a third time in September by "running the same script that failed twice," Litman wrote.

Litman branded the pattern the "hidden costs of the Justice Department's corruption and fecklessness," and he stressed that the bill for those hidden costs doesn't land on Trump.

"When Rivera-Luna walks out of that courtroom because the jury could not bring itself to trust the government that charged him, the price is not paid by Jeanine Pirro or by the president who installed her," Litman wrote. "It is paid on the streets of Washington."

He placed the blame on Pirro and Attorney General Todd Blanche because they're "proud to champion" the abandonment of decades of prosecutorial norms.

"Make no mistake," Litman warned. "It's the public that pays the wages of the corruption."

Todd Blanche poses 'huge threat' with 'permanent' victory in hardline crackdown: expert

Attorney General Todd Blanche poses a "huge threat" as he's poised to wield the Justice Department against abortion rights, a Guardian columnist warned.

In a Saturday opinion piece, legal columnist Moira Donegan flagged how the newly confirmed attorney general is positioned to complete the transformation of the DOJ into an instrument restricting access to mifepristone nationwide. In the piece, titled "Trump’s new attorney general poses a huge threat to abortion rights," she described Blanche as "an anti-abortion zealot" who has been "shockingly subservient" to Trump.

Blanche "seems poised to complete the president's long-brewing transformation of the country's chief law enforcement agency into a vehicle for score settling, personal vendettas, distributing favors to the administration's friends and suppressing dissent from its political enemies," Donegan wrote.

What Donegan finds "most incendiary" centers on what Blanche has said he intends to do with the office. In a call put together by the White House faith office days before his confirmation, Blanche reportedly told the religious group Intercessors for America that the department was working "so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state," according to Donegan.

"We don't have complete victory yet," Blanche said. "But we will have victory, and victory will be soon, and it will be permanent."

Donegan laid out several paths Blanche has at his disposal, none of which require new legislation. He could revive the Comstock Act, a dormant 1873 statute, to ban the mailing of abortion pills, Donegan warned.

He could sue to strike down the shield laws that let doctors in Democratic states ship medication to patients in states with bans. He could also reverse the DOJ's current position defending the drug's online availability, which Donegan noted is a stance that will be tested when the Fifth Circuit hears a Louisiana challenge next month.

According to Donegan, Trump has moved cautiously on the issue of abortion rights since returning to office. "He appears to have been spooked by the political reaction to Dobbs, which was credited for the Democrats' better-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterms," Donegan wrote.

'Shocking': New details of Trump DOJ's 'crazy two hours' fumbling Epstein case revealed

A lawyer suing the Department of Justice described the "crazy two hours" that could spill "millions" of Epstein files.

During an interview on the podcast "Legal AF," Public Integrity Project lawyer Brendan Ballou spoke about the DOJ's lawyer trying to defend redactions of the Epstein files against a lawsuit brought by lawyer and journalist Katie Phang.

"It was a shocking sort of experience for me, having been at the Department of Justice, to see the argument that they were making," Ballou said. "They didn't seem to have a plan for the hearing or for what the judge's questions were going to be, sort of basic questions about the case."

Phang is suing Attorney General Todd Blanche for allegedly illegal redactions of the Epstein files. She argued that the redactions violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The DOJ sent Andrew Block in alone to a show-cause hearing. "It was a pretty crazy two hours," according to Ballou, who was in the courtroom. It was a "close-shoelace" disaster with "long periods of silence," no plan, and no attempt to argue that the DOJ was actually complying.

"At no point did they argue that they were complying with the law, which I thought was pretty shocking," Ballou said. "You would think you would want to at least nominally say, 'Look, judge, we are actually following the law here.'"

Instead, the DOJ's posture was variations on "we've reinterpreted the orders so we don't have to follow them," according to Ballou. Judge Emmet Sullivan suggested he could hold Block in contempt with a "half-hour long description of having previously found the Department in contempt," Ballou said.

"He's basically bringing up the specter of contempt, saying, 'It's a promise, not a threat,'" Ballou said. "I think he really made clear the profound professional consequences that follow you if you are, in fact, held in contempt."

Sullivan also only asked Phang's side to draft a proposed order releasing Epstein files, which Ballou found telling. He framed the current fight as a "small subset," while the larger war is millions of pages he says can't be trusted as reviewed and redacted honestly or completely.

"Ultimately, we're talking about millions of documents that need to be properly reviewed that we really can't trust the Department of Justice did a good job on," Ballou said. "Every time the Department of Justice evades, fails to comply, fails to be completely transparent, it's going to make it a lot easier for us to get that ultimate remedy. Absolutely."

'Highly unusual' move puts two Trump cronies in legal jeopardy: analyst

President Donald Trump's niece criticized two of his cabinet members and pointed out their blatant illegal activity last week.

In her Substack on Monday, Mary Trump argued that while the president has attempted to tout the drop in crime during the Friday rally at Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, New York, the move showed how far some of his closest aides are willing to go — despite the glaring ethical questions.

"Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel also spoke at the rally to warm up the crowd for Donald, as if either one of those two people could possibly do that," she wrote.

"This was not just a highly unusual move at an event that was so openly political. It was against the law," she explained. "To have the head of the FBI and the Attorney General of the United States at a political rally just shows us how far we have fallen."

Mary Trump also called out Blanche's comments during his interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. Blanche denied that he would refuse any potential illegal orders from Trump.

"Todd Blanche is lying through his teeth, and he is doing it with a quiet equanimity that is alarming," she wrote. "This is the former personal attorney of Donald Trump, now serving as Attorney General of the United States, refusing to pledge that the Justice Department will act independently of the White House and then assuring us that Donald will never ask him to do anything unethical or illegal."

She predicted how Blanche plans to serve in his new role.

"Todd Blanche, along with the head of the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, with a big assist from Pam Bondi, who was Attorney General before Blanche, will do his utmost to dismantle what is left of the Department of Justice and the rule of law," Mary Trump wrote. "He is going to do Donald’s bidding, as he has now for years."

"And we have Senators Bill Cassidy, John Thune, and Thom Tillis to thank for the fact that we now have that Nazi running what used to be one of the most important, unassailable institutions in this country," she added.

'Exactly why the world hates lawyers': Todd Blanche sparks scorched-earth tirade on CNN

CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams on Monday had a sharp critique for Attorney General Todd Blanche after President Donald Trump's former personal attorney's interview with NBC News.

Blanche said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that he would not pledge the Department of Justice will always act independently — and Williams called out why that was troubling during a segment with CNN anchor Kasie Hunt.

"That statement there is exactly why the world hates lawyers," Williams said. "We hate ourselves because of things like that."

Williams offered a better, more direct question for Blanche.

"Would you take a directive from the president to violate standing Justice Department procedures or policies? Would you follow an illegal order from the president?" Williams suggested. "And I don't think he could wiggle out of a question like that. But he gave a statement there that was vague enough and open-ended enough that a lawyer could wink and nod and say that it was accurate."

"But come on, given the history of everything we know about the president, everything we know he's asked of his attorneys general and, quite frankly, everything Todd Blanche has done in the job, much of what he's done in the job up to this point, we don't have any reason to believe that there's any space between the AG and the president."

Outrage erupts as Todd Blanche makes 'amazing confession' about Trump: 'Just wow'

Attorney General Todd Blanche drew online ire after refusing to pledge that the Department of Justice will be independent of President Donald Trump.

On Sunday, Blanche was interviewed by Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, who pressed him on the DOJ's independence under Trump. Welker asked Blanche, "Can you pledge the DOJ will always act independently of the White House?"

"No, I'm not going to pledge that," Blanche shot back. "And no attorney general ever should."

"So if the president asked you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?" Welker followed up.

"He would never do that," Blanche responded. "He never has. He never will."

The answer shocked critics and drew outrage because of his description of Trump and his resistance to pledging that the DOJ will be independent.

"Just...wow," blogger and Kash Pate-foe Jim Stewartson wrote on X. "This is actually surreal."

"These questions have now been asked of Blanche repeatedly & he gives the same bulls--- answer each time," blasted lawyer and journalist Katie Phang, who is suing Blanche over the DOJ's redactions of the Epstein files, in a post on Bluesky. "How about we ask Blanche direct and pointed questions about his noncompliance with court orders from Judge Sullivan [who's hearing her case], compelling him to provide unredacted Epstein Files?"

Former Meet the Press host Chuck Todd described Blanche's response as a "pretty amazing confession" in an X post. "Still can't believe he was confirmed. I guess he gets points for being honest?"

CNN commentator and Democratic strategist Xochitl Hinojosa said in her reaction that Blanche gave the "wrong answer," adding that previous attorneys general have been able to promise an independent DOJ.

"Every AG has been able to give this answer: the Justice Department will act independent of the WH on all criminal matters," Hinojosa wrote. "The president should never dictate who to prosecute."

Todd Blanche refuses to rule out payments to Jan. 6 rioters: 'I don't know'

Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to rule out the idea that Jan. 6 rioters could be paid by President Donald Trump's administration.

During a Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Blanche was pressed by host Kristen Welker on whether the Trump administration would pay Jan. 6 rioters. Blanche has repeatedly said that the anti-weaponization fund, which critics worried would pay Jan. 6 rioters, is dead, but Welker asked if they could still get payments.

"You're saying you're not ever reviving it, but just to be very clear, can you guarantee that under your Department of Justice, anyone who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 will not receive one dime of taxpayer money if they file a claim against the federal government?"

"Anybody can file a claim against the federal government," Blanche said. "I'm not going to sit here on a news program and say whether a litigation that may or may not happen will result in money. I can't do that."

He then laid out a separate process through which Jan. 6 rioters could file a claim.

"There's a process that has been in place for decades for somebody that has been or a tort's been committed against them can seek redress," Blanche said. "Beyond that, I'm not going to comment."

Welker pressed Blanche for a clear answer on whether he would rule out the possibility of Jan. 6 rioters getting payments, which his answer sidestepped.

"So potentially they could get paid under another stream of government funding?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know," Blanche said. "Anybody who sues the federal government could get paid...I'm not going to comment on a hypothetical case."

Politico legal reporter Josh Gerstein quickly called out the non-answer in a post on X, and the Department of Justice responded via its DOJ Rapid Response account.

"Come on, Josh— you know better!" the DOJ wrote. "The Judgment Fund has been in place for decades...claims are made each day, on any number of issues."

It added, "It is completely unrelated to the dead [anti-weaponization] Fund. Even democrats have said repeatedly that the avenue for relief is the Judgment Fund."

GOP Senator stunned silent by Todd Blanche's 'back the blue' stump speech

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) had to answer for comments made by Attorney General Todd Blanche a week after the GOP senator confirmed him.

Cassidy cast the decisive vote to confirm Blanche as Trump's Attorney General and gave a speech where he assured his constituents he was making the right choice despite mixed feelings about confirming Trump's former personal lawyer. But a week later, Cassidy was confronted during an appearance on CNN with a clip of Blanche endorsing Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor of New York.

Blanche said that Blakeman was "doing everything we need him to do to back the blue."

Blanche made the endorsement during a Friday speech in Garden City, New York, where he spoke alongside President Donald Trump. Critics quickly called it out as a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits most executive appointees from partisan political activity.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper played a clip from the speech for Cassidy to watch.

"You had misgivings before you voted to confirm him as Attorney General," Tapper told Cassidy. "We're just a few months from the midterms. No Democrats spoke at the rally. A lot of Democrats considered it to be overtly political."

Tapper asked, "Do you think it's appropriate for the Attorney General of the United States to be participating in an event like that 81 days before the midterms?"

Cassidy went silent for a while after Tapper's question and then danced around it.

"All I saw was that little snippet," Cassidy said. "So I'm going to reserve comment because I was not aware of that before this."

Cassidy then fell back to defending the GOP and Blanche when it comes to law enforcement, even though he didn't explain in what sense.

"I will say that Republicans are very strong on law enforcement," Cassidy said. "And Todd Blanche has been strong on law enforcement."

Then he repeated, "But, Jake, with all due respect, I had never heard anything about that rally until this very minute, so I'll reserve comment on that."

'Bizarre scene' behind Todd Blanche's swearing-in detailed by former DOJ attorney

Former Justice Department pardon attorney Liz Oyer described the "bizarre scene" that took place at Attorney General Todd Blanche's swearing-in.

During a Saturday interview with former CNN anchor Jim Acosta, Oyer described how DOJ employees had to come out of their office to applaud Blanche after he was sworn in by Emil Bove, another former personal lawyer of President Donald Trump.

"He was sworn in in a private event at the White House that was not open to the press," Oyer told Acosta. "You would know better than I, but I think that's unusual that the press is not invited to the swearing-in of the Attorney General."

Oyer suggested that the event was private because Blanche was sworn in by Bove, who was Blanche's junior co-counsel on Trump's criminal defense, then a top Justice Department official. Bove is now a federal appeals judge with a lifetime tenure after being installed by Trump.

"Todd Blanche was like the senior partner representing Donald Trump, and Bove was the junior partner. And they worked very closely together," Oyer said. "Now Bove is an appellate court judge...and Todd Blanche, his other personal lawyer, is now the Attorney General."

Oyer described it as, "The whole gang back together, the whole Trump legal team back together, but this time they're in the Oval Office."

After Blanche was sworn in at the Oval Office, he went back to the Justice Department headquarters, known as Main Justice, and "people are summoned, people who work in the building are summoned out of their offices to stand there and clap for him while he walks into the building."cha

Oyer noted that the summoned applause was filmed and put on social media, and it shows, "All these people who are being forced to stand there and clap for him, and then he gets to work."

She pointed out that Blanche's first act as Trump's AG was to "quietly issue this new memo...that massively expands the scope of executive privilege" by allowing the president to keep internal advice secret.

Blanche's swearing-in, she said, "was just an incredibly bizarre scene and really just so unbelievably inappropriate."